


Drifting away

by FernShaw



Series: Dripping jelly and glowing eyes [1]
Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Possible Bad Ending, Possible Character Death, Starvation, Zombie Apocalypse, possible child death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27564682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FernShaw/pseuds/FernShaw
Summary: Ice captain is ready to come back to land to get food after months of travel but... It seems that something is going on. Something that she would've never expected in the first place.
Relationships: Captain Ice Cookie & Peppermint Cookie (Cookie Run), Captain Ice Cookie & Sorbet Shark Cookie (Cookie Run)
Series: Dripping jelly and glowing eyes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2014858
Comments: 19
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

Finally, after months of travel, the crew was going back to land. Captain ice never felt as comfortable on earth as she was on the sea but ... It was still good to come back. Seeing land at the end of the horizon, remembering that she could take a little time for herself after picking up the ressources the crew needed ... That was something she loved. 

"How long until we get to the shore ?"

"I would say 'bout an hour, captain !'

"Good ! Everyone, get ready for your tasks on land ! We're only stopping for a day, and once you're done with it you can spend a little time like you want !"

The crew started to smile and cheer up. It was a nice thing to see. But soon, the lady felt something gripping her uniform.

"Miss ... What can I do when we're on land ?"

Peppermint. Weirdly enough, such a small child quickly adapted to the sea life. And of course, everyone was happy to have their little face around to cheer people up. 

"You can stay with me, it's no big deal. I'll bring you to a restaurant once I'm done with everything, you deserve a good time too."

Everything was going perfectly. She couldn't wait to get the little kid to have some fun. They were really calm and usually tried not to be a bother, to the point where she truly thought that they needed more activities of their age. But when she was about to go back to her room, she heard it. 

"Captain ! Pirate cookie's ship in view ! What should we do ?"

She sighed and smiled, hoping that she would get an opportunity to chase the man and perhaps catch him but ... 

"Is he ... Coming towards us ??"

That was right. The ship wasn't fleeing from icepiercer like it usually did, but rather came closer to it.

"What should we do, captain ?"

"Let him approach us, but get ready for a possible battle. I never saw him act in such way ... There's definitely a reason behind it."

Perhaps they got new crewmates that might be powerful enough to defeat her ? Or maybe they wanted to finally give up on the chase and would let himself be captured ? Either case, she wanted to wait and see. 

After a few minutes, the ship stopped next hers. The whole crew was tensed and ready to fight, but pirate cookie arrived on their ship in a rather calm and peaceful manner. Still, they seemed rather worried and stressed

"Pirate cookie. What are you doing here ?"

The captain was ready to order her crew to capture the criminal, but the whole situation was way too weird for her not to stop and listen. That guy ... He would never come directly to her without a good reason. 

"Ice, I'm here to tell ye that you really don't want to get to the land. It ain't good for anyone, trust me."

"Pardon me ? What do you mean by such thing ?"

"The land, it's infested with weird infected cookies. My crew calls 'em the jellywalkers. It makes them act aggressive and all n they loose their brains once they turn into these things. But the worst is, if they bite ye, ya ain't coming out of it alive. Trust me, I lost some crewmates to it, and it ain't pretty. Once you're a jellywalker, no goin back."

"Wh-what ?! But how ?! Why ?!"

"Dunno. I just went on land a couple hours ago and got lost while tryin' to understand what was going on in that damn place. Everyone in the city was infected or barely survivin'. Got a lil new fellah on my team that I saved, but that's the only new pal I got."

Ice captain looked at the rest of her crew, and everyone was terrified, for obvious reasons. Still, she tried to remain calm and cautious. 

"How can I know that you're not lying to me to try to gain sympathy and stop us from getting supplies ?"

The pirate looked ... Sad. Disturbed. It was rare to see him serious like that. 

"Listen, captain ice. We ain't no pals anymore, and my name still won't be Navi any time soon. But I do not wish death on ye and yer crew. This ain't a joke. Everyone here needs to be safe and I don't want to see your lil sailors coming to land only to get destroyed by stupid jellywalkers. Y'all need to survive. If ye really need to be convinced, I can show my new crewmate. He'll tell ya 'bout hell."

That was more than enough for her. She rarely seen him so sincere, and she clearly was not going to doubt him if it was such an emergency.

"Thank you very much for telling us. That was quite unexpected but ... Nice of you. Still, do you know any other place where we could at least buy food ?"

"Neh. Imma go look for somethin' like that from now on cuz I need it too, but if I'm seein' ya again I'll tell you what I know."

The cookie saluted the crew and sighed before going back into his ship and starting to get away from his old rival's. 

"You're going to just ... Let him leave ?!"

"I certainly do not want to attack him after such act of kindness. If he's telling the truth, our lifes should matter more than capturing him. He truly took a risk to save us, and we have to take it into consideration."

"But how can we believe him ?!"

"Do you really think he would take the risk to come to us and say such things just to make us destabilized ? If I listened to my heart at the moment when he put a foot on my ship, I would've ask everyone to catch him. But his eyes... They were full of fear. He's saying the truth. Something is going on on land. And we can't take the risk to see what it is."

Captain ice sighed and looked at the land behind her that, in the end, wouldn't get to walk upon.  
Something was wrong, very wrong. And she was certainly not going to risk her life to know more.


	2. Chapter 2

It has been ... Quite a while since the crew saw pirate cookie. The one that warned them about the jellywalkers. For the first time of her life, the leader of the ship felt a little sick of the sea. They tried to come closer to other lands, but all had the same problem. Each time they barely approached the shore a huge mass of brainless walkers gathered around the place to see if they could get something to bite. And Ice captain was not willing to take that kind of risk for food. 

But the obvious was here : they didn't have a lot of food left. Barely enough to last a few days, and then, it would be the end. And still, even with the food they had, the crew felt like they never had a full belly. It was harsh to see all of her friends suffer in this way, all because of a stupid ... What could it be ? A virus ? A parasite ? Whatever it was, she hated it with all of her heart. And her stomach. Lately, she started to skip meal to help the little peppermint to get the food they needed. A child like them didn't deserve to suffer the same way the others did. It made her a lot more tired that usual, but she didn't have much of a choice in her opinion. 

The crew tried to fish and find food in the ocean, but without much of a success. They didn't have any fishing roads and any traps they set were a complete disaster. So all they could do was ... Wait. Wait for sweet death to come, or for a miracle to happen. Perhaps something that could bring food from the sea ? No ... It would be too good. Things like that never happened in real life.

That day, the captain decided to watch the sea without much in mind. Usually it would be relaxing and calm, but the more she stared at the water the more it felt like a prison. A torture for her comrades. She felt her mind drifting away as she stated blankly at the wave until ... A fin. Shark's fin. She didn't know how to react, sharks were usually rare so far into the sea. Perhaps it got lost, just like them ? What a sad fate... 

But as she looked at it, she felt something. That shark ... Was not any shark. There was something more that she couldn't catch until peppermint finally pointed it out. 

"Isn't that ... Sorbet shark ?"

She gasped and immediately understood that small cookie was right. 

"Sorbet shark ?! Sorbet shark, hey please ! Please come to the boat !"

The mermaid got their head off the sea and looked at the boat. The whole crew gasped from relief. They immediately started swimming towards the boat, and got on board thanks to the ship's ancre. They looked a bit lost and had a little problem to get back to their feet after turning into a cookie. It seemed that they didn't walk on land for a long time. Peppermint immediately rushed to hug their friend.

"I'm so happy to see you Sorbet ! It's been so long ... How have you been ?"

"Oo000Oo ! OOoOo... OooooOoo !"

"That's really nice ! I'm sorry that you had to get of pirate's ship thought ..."

"ooO ... Oooo0 ?"

"Oh, well umh ... You see, here we have a lot of problems ... I'm not sure why, But there are mean people on land and we can't go back there, but because of that we can't get food... Captain Ice said that this was really bad because we can't stay very long without it."

"OoooOOO00O0 ... OoooOo. 00o. OoOooOo00O !"

"Really ? You would hunt fishes for us ? Thank you so much sorbet !!"

Captain ice immediately stopped the little cookie's joy and got to her knees to talk to sorbet properly. 

"We really appreciate your offer Sorbet Shark, but I am afraid that feeding each and every one of us is going to be a difficult task for you. We certainly do not want to ki- make you feel bad from exhaustion."

Sorbet shark felt a little disappointed but peppermint didn't stop there.

"Do you have friends at the sea maybe ? Someone very that could help us gather a lot of fishes ?"

The shark thought a little and made a weird face before speaking again. 

"OOoOo..."

"What are they saying ?"

"They said that they know someone, called squid Ink cookie, that is quite big and strong, but they're not really friends."

"Squid ink cookie, you say ?"

"OooooOoo. Oo !"

"Apparently Squid Ink is very mad at Sorbet but they don't know why."

"Do you think you could try to bring them here to reason them ? We can try to explain the situation and perhaps resolve your problem too. We really need that help ... If we don't get it soon I'm afraid ..."

She looked at peppermint with a sad face and shivered. They would starve to death if nothing was done soon enough, and Peppermint wouldn't last a lot longer without food. 

Sorbet knew what was going on, even if peppermint didn't seem like they understood it well. 

"ooO. OooO00o."

"They said they would try their best. For everyone."

Captain ice slowly approached the small being and have them a hug with a smile.

"Thank you so much, little one. We owe you a lot."

The little cookie make a small happy noise as they jumped back into the ocean, immediately turning back into a shark. They turned around to face the ship and yelled

"I'm gonna search for them right now, but it might take a while. Please be patient !"

"We will, sorbet. We'll stay around the place for you to find us more easily !"

An hour passed. Then two. Then three. Of course, "taking a while" was vague, but the crew couldn't help but be impatient. Everyone was watching the ocean in hopes of seeing anything new, and when it happened it clearly wasn't what they expected. 

"Are these ... Giant tentacles ?"

"Man they're huge ! Sorbet shark didn't lie when they said this cookie could bring us a lot of food !"

The crew was already starting to talk about the thing they saw at the horizon but when the captain took a closer look to the scene, she noticed something ... Strange. Sorbet shark didn't seem to bring the creature towards the ship. They seemed to be fleeing from it. And when one of the tentacles clearly tried to hit the shark, there was no doubt possible. 

"Sorbet shark is in danger. This cookie isn't friendly. Prepare the cannons and be ready to fight this thing."

"What ?! But I thought Sorbet shark was supposed to ask this thing for help !"

"They did and they very clearly failed. Now we have to take responsibilities. I said get the cannons ready, RIGHT NOW."

"... Captain, yes captain."

The giant squid got closer and closer to the ship and it became clear that the cannons wouldn't be ready on time. Captain ice watched the poor little shark trying desperately to escape the monster and very clearly failing. They approached the ship in hopes of being able to jump in, but a giant wave appeared right behind them, caused by the creature.The shark jumped over the wave only to get hit by a giant tentacle and threw on the ship's floor. They yelped in pain, barely able to move after what happened. 

"Sorbet !!"

Ice captain rushed down to the small body that was convulsing on the ground, unable to transform into a cookie state due the chock of the attack. They were gasping for air, unable to breathe properly without at least a little bit of water.

"Someone get a bucket of sea water and bring it here !!"

A crew member arrived with a bucket and started to slowly pour down the water over the little cookie's fins to help them breathe. 

"Sorbet ... Talk to me, are you okay ?"

"... Hurts ... Can't... Can't ... Please... Stop ..."

They wer clearly in too much of a shock to answer properly. The lady tried to at least check their vitals but the ship started to move. Giant tentacles were surrounding the boat, starting to make it unstable. The crew was starting to panick.

"W-we need to stop that Squid !"

"They're going to drown us ! We're going to die !!"

Ice captain tried to calm everyone down, but was eventually stopped by the sound of a horn. No, not only her, but everything around the ship stopped moving. She looked around only to see the smallest cookie of all, peppermint, staring at the tentacles angrily. She didn't even imagine that they could show such expression. 

"SQUID INK COOKIE ! WHY ARE YOU HURTING MY FRIEND ?!"

The tentacles slowly got off the ship and retrieved into the ocean. Peppermint stared at the sea, seemingly listening to something. And finally, they answered. 

"You are one big meanie if you can't forgive them because they attacked you years ago ! They were a baby ! And baby sharks don't know what things are and why they shouldn't attack cookies ! You weren't even injured and they said sorry ! You are very, very mean and bad ! Stop, stop it, leave my friend alone !"

The kid sounded desperate, and started to tear up as they yelled at the ocean. They looked at their friend that was still lying on the ground. They were having a lot of trouble breathing and were shaking because of the pain. 

And when the tentacles rose back up, Captain ice knew this was the end.


	3. Chapter 3

Captain ice closed her eyes and waited for the crash. No one would survive in the middle of the ocean with a giant octopus around. That was it.  
And so she waited  
And waited  
...  
But nothing happened  
And when she opened her eyes she saw it. 

Peppermint was crying all of the tears of their body at the other side of the boat, yelling at the sea, and the sea was moving with them. A giant wave caused by a mysterious force surrounded the squid, pushing it away from the ship and slowly making them give up on attacking. And at the exact moment the last tentacle disapeared, the small body gave up and crashed upon the ship's wood. Captain ice gasped and rushed towards the small body, immediately checking their vitals. Peppermint was alright, just extremely tired ... But still, what was this power ...? Was it ... Sea fairy protecting them perhaps ? It didn't matter at that moment. 

The captain ordered the crew to take care of any material damages and to make sure that everyone was alright. She knew that at least a few crewmates got some scratches but ... They were clearly not the ones that had it the worst.

Sorbet shark was badly injured. Thankfully, as the battle ended, the crew was able to put them in a small tank of sea water that was barely big enough for them, usually used to keep sea food fresh for travels. The poor body was still shaking, and it seemed that they wouldn't calm down because of the pain. After a while, ice captain decided to put anesthesia in the water, which put the shark to sleep for a while. And now ... She waited. She stood just outside of the room for the doctor of the crew to end their examination. And when she heard the signal, she quickly entered the room, closed it with a key and stared at the doctor.

"So ?"

The man sighed and looked down. 

"It's really bad. The hit destroyed a part of their spine, and it seems that it will affect their mobility greatly. The thing is ... Sharks can't breathe fully when they're not moving. Even if right now they are alseep, you can see that they're still moving a little to keep air in their lungs. And if they can't breathe at their full capacity, they will endure a long and difficult end that will ultimately result to suffocation."

"And ... What can we do about that ?"

"At normal times any specialized doctor on lands could've done something with a simple operation. It's not injured in a way that would be untreatable, and even if they would have a hard time while we travel to the land it would be okay in the end. But ... I am afraid that with our current situation, there's nothing we can do. They can "live" a couple of more days but that will be extremely painful."

The lady stared at the tank, unable to think. That couldn't be it. It couldn't just end like that. 

"We can also decide to not wake them up at all. We have enough medication in stock to help them pass awa-"

"Please try not to mention that. Not right now. I can't hear that."

The doctor closed their eyes and nodded as the captain felt tears rolling down her cheeks. Sorbet shark was just peacefully sleeping in the tank. They looked so much better than when they were up and in pain ... It was a lot for her to take in. Perhaps too much. Even if she knew she would probably have to loose some people to that apocalypse, this was the last person she thought would end up like that. The ocean was supposed to be safe ! A safe place for everyone !! Not ... Not this ...

She looked at the bottles of pills on the shelf next to her and decided to simply stop thinking about anything. She opened the door back up, just in case something might happen, sat on the floor against the boat's hull, closed her eyes and immediately fell into a deep, deep slumber. 

Maybe when she'll wake up, everything would be just a bad dream and it'll go back to normal.


	4. Chapter 4

Ice captain wakes up and looks around. She sees the moonlight through the window and her pocket watch indicates 10 pm. It's almost time. She has to take this decision. In an hour, sorbet shark will wake up, and if they get conscious again explaining this situation will probably not allow her to get the chance to do ... That. She knows Sorbet is young, too young to take this kind of decisions but probably old enough to understand the implications of the situation. It hurts to know such thing. She looks at the box of pills next to her. Just a few in the water and ... The nightmare would end. It's scary. She might've done bad things in the past, she wasn't perfect. But ... She never ended someone's life. And that was something she truly believed she would never have to do. Even the worst criminals couldn't be killed by her hands. So why... Why an innocent child ? 

She felt tears on her face again. That probably was the first time she cried in years but she wasn't ashamed, and didn't want to hide it. She was sad, and certainly not heartless. She didn't want to see a small being suffer just because she wanted to. 

She took her pocket watch once again. 50 minutes left. She closed it, gripping it with force and looked at the moon. 

"Moonlight cookie, please bring me the courage I need to do that." 

She took the box if pills and shoved it under her cloak, and closed back her eyes. She was not going to do that. She wanted to wait until they wake up and discuss about it. Taking this decision all by herself would be selfish. The little teenager was probably too young to deal with such things, but she had to hear them first. Make sure they would understand. She couldn't face it all alone. 

And about an hour after going back to sleep, she hear it. A splash coming from the aquarium and a small voice calling for something. 

"Ice...? Captain ice ...?"

She got back in seconds, took a chair and sat next to the aquarium. 

"Sorbet ! Are you ... Feeling better ?" 

"Not a lot. But it's fine if I don't move a lot. I just feel ... Very tired."

Of course. Exhaustion. That was the first symptom of someone that lacked oxygen. 

"Sorbet, do you think you could talk with me about important things right now ? I don't want to force you, but there's something I need to mention that I think would be better for you to know."

"What is it ? Is it ... About my dreams to do adventures ? If I need to wait to explore around because you need me to bring you food, I'll do it once I'm better."

"It's not... that."

Seeing the child so enthusiastic made her heart ache. 

"You see, sorbet-"

Suddenly, a loud noise came from behind the door. She rushed towards it to see what it was and opened it only to discover a small black cookie sobbing, holding a potion between what seemed to be tentacles. She observed the cookie for a while before finally understanding something. Black tentacles. That was no ordinary kid. This was squid ink. 

The little being seemed so fragile, trembling while staring at the captain. They finally let out a few words after a good minute of silence. 

"Sea fairy ... Said ... You Nice ... Me Wrong ... Sorry ... Got potion ... No angry, please..."

Captain looked at the potion the small being handed to her. Then at the cookie. Then at back at sorbet. And finally back at the potion. Then, it clicked. 

"You brought this for Sorbet Shark ?!"

The little black cookie shyly nodded and gave the potion to Captain Ice. She clearly need to get agreement a second time, rushing immediately to Sorbet Shark and making sure they drank the whole potion in one go. 

Quickly enough the effects of the potions were seen on their body. Their scales, that were starting to turn a deep ocean blue went back to their original turquoise colorarion. Their fins started moving a lot better, be they did not seem to struggle to breathe anymore. Overall, the cookie had regained of their energy in a few minutes only. 

This was a miracle, purely and simply a miracle. She couldn't have hoped for such thing to happen even if she would've liked to.

"How are you feeling, Sorbet ??"

She clenched her fist, still a bit nervous for the answer. She never knew what might happen. 

The little shark immediately transformed back into a human, tried to get out of the tank but seemed to have difficulties to do so.

"ooO !! Ooo0OOoo !"

The went back to their original form painfully and splashed back into the tank. 

"Is something going on, sorbet ?"

"... Can't stand on my legs."

"Do they hurt you ? Do you need medication ?"

"No ... I just don't feel them. I can't move them either. It feels very weird. I don't like it."

Ice captain immediately understood what was going on and hugged the kid gently before remembering what the doctor said. It could be repaired with a simple operation, but right now there's no way this can be done. Everything ... Was going to be fine.

"It's okay. It'll get better whenever everything will end. We'll help you to roam around the ship, I promise. It'll be fine."

Sorbet looked a little confused but ... They believed the older lady. They smiled at the small octopus. A true smile, one that can't be faked. 

"Thank you for the potion. I feel a lot better. I promise I'm not mad at you. Can we make peace ?"

They showed their arm to the squid, which at first got scared but slowly used one of their many tentacles to held their hand. 

"... Friend ..."

"Hehe ! Yes, friend !"

Ice captain smiled. 

"Squid ink, I know this might be a lot to ask but do you think you could help us ?"

"Help ... Cookies ..?"

"Yes, we need your help. My crew, everyone here, we can't get food because we can't get in the water. Do you think you could bring us some fish ? I think you could do it easily in your giant form"

"Food ... Fish ... Eat ... Friends ? Help friends ..? Squid ink ... Try ..."

"Thank you little one."

Sorbet shark looked back at the lady and gently asked 

"So what was the thing you wanted to talk to me about ?"

"Oh ! Oh ... Well umh ..."

She bit her lip, knowing that she couldn't tell the truth, not right now. 

"I wanted to ask you if after everything you'd like to stay with us, on this ship. I know you really wanted to get on adventures. And I want you to know that you'll always be accepted on this ship, no matter what."

"Wah- yes !! Yes I really want to ! I'd love to stay with you ! Talk you so much captain ice !!"

The lady smiled and something in her heart told her that from now on, things would be good.  
Finally. Some rest and safety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pfiew ... This is only the end of the very beginning of this fic, trust me on that one !   
> I'm planning to make this fic focus on a lot of different cookie groups, though a few of them might end up not as lucky as this one !  
> I really hope you enjoyed this first part, and I will see you soon with other parts !


End file.
